Sunday 31 May 2009

Nothing as good as etsy

I went to the spinners etc open day today and spent the whole time thinking I could find more interesting things on etsy. Consequently, after drowning our (my husband always has to tag along) sorrows at one of our favourite Asian restaurants for lunch, I came home and spent some money on etsy instead. Thanks to all those fibre artists out there who love to do their own thing. There is nothing quite as exciting as waiting for a parcel to arrive and the butterflies as you open it to see if it's what you expected! 

Louise (PixieLouFelt)

Saturday 30 May 2009

ETSY - a life changing experience

I don't know what I did with my time before joining Etsy. It gives me a reason to create and to see what other people are doing out there. Suddenly the world seems like a much smaller place and I have never spent so much time at the post office.

Our local Spinners, Weavers and Felters Guild are having their open day tomorrow. A good reason to poke around and find more fibre to collect, use and just look at. When that's over there is the excitement of checking the shop to see how many people have looked.

Like a lot of other members I have  done dressmaking, embroidered, done stumpwork, patchworked, mosaiced etc and have now fallen for felting. I did a slipper class on Mothers Day last year and have been experimenting since then. I hope to learn lots more from the veteran felters.

Louise (PixieLouFelt)


Wednesday 27 May 2009

Last chance: deadline is 1.06.09

Sandra Salamony and I are co-authors of an upcoming book, 1000 Artisan Textiles, to be published in May 2010 by Rockport Publishers/Quarry Books. I obtained your name through the Felting Team page at Etsy, and would like to invite all team members to submit their favorite project(s) for consideration. Please take a look at our website, http://1000artisantextiles.com for more details. You will note that the while the deadline for submission is June 1, 2009, the selection process will begin earlier, and therefore, we encourage early submissions.

Also, please feel free to share this opportunity with your fellow textiles artists.

Thank you in advance for participating,

Gina M. Brown
1000 Artisan Textiles
(Creative fiber works in detail)

New treasury: please visit and give your 12 clicks :)

Sunday 24 May 2009

International Day of Felt - October 3rd, 2009

Hi everybody,
just want to spread the word around about a fantastique big felters event: on October 3rd, 2009 - feltmakers from around the globe will celebrate the first annual International Day of Felt.
The theme for this year will be a slice of the colour wheel, yellow through red. For more informations : http://www.feltunited.com/
Hope you'll be in!
Ariane

Wednesday 13 May 2009

The Mathematics of Needle-Felting

I'm feeling very Mathematical-like today. Inspired by my reading of Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time", I decided to figure out the Mathematics of Needle-Felting. I started by timing how long it takes to poke the wool 1,000 times.

Needle Felting Pokes

1 Poke 1/3 Second
100 Pokes 30 Seconds
1,000 Poke 5 Minutes
100,000 Pokes 8 Hours, 20 Minutes
1,000,000 Pokes 3 Days, 11 Hours, 20 Minutes
* *
1 Second 3.33 Pokes
1 Minute 200 Pokes
1 Hour 12,000 Pokes
1 Day 288,000 Pokes

After Posting my findings I had a friend comment & ask if I could figure out the ratio of "# of Wool Pokes (to) # of Finger Pokes". This is my response...

"I think the "# of Wool Pokes (to) # of Finger Pokes" ratio, for me, is actually the correlation between "Time of Poking (to) # of Finger Pokes". The longer I poke, the more I poke. It increases exponentially!"

I'll have to do the math & get back to you!!! HAHA - I'm a Geek!!